


Throw the bait, catch the shark, bleed the water red

by cutebutpsyco



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Canon-Typical Violence, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark Friendship, Not A Fix-It, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Rhodey Birthday Week 2018, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, both rhodey and tony have issues, it's just mentioned, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-07-23 23:58:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16169399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutebutpsyco/pseuds/cutebutpsyco
Summary: Since that moment, at the Rhodes’ had always been a seat for Tony. They never spoke about that, but James hoped that Tony could think about his place as his own if he needed to. Not that Stark couldn’t afford every apartment in the city, but, sometimes, people needed a family, not just empty rooms. He still remembered how happy James’s mother had been the first time the one Anthony Stark showed up for Thanksgiving Day.





	1. Chapter I

**Author's Note:**

> I'm bad with titles. Anyway, this is my gift for @sleepymarvel on Tumblr for the #RhodeyBirthdayCelebrationWeek. I'm so sorry this isn't finished yet, but this turned out to be longer than I had originally planned -- as in I had to put Nat in this fic which I hope you won't mind --, and I found myself with 10k+ words not even close to an end.  
> Of course, I wanted to post the gift on the right day, so here I am with the first chapter. In case you are wondering why Nat is still around the Compound: I headcanon that she tries to keep everyone together, and when she goes with the rogue ones she keeps in touch with Tony and updates him on Steve's whereabouts, and not even Marvel can't change my mind.  
> On a side note, it's the first time I write from Rhodey's POV, and the first time I enter an exchange so I really hope you'll like this. 
> 
> I tagged this as 'Howard Stark's A+ parenting' and 'Canon-Typical Violence' because both of these themes are mentioned, though none of them is really described -- especially Howard's one. Also, even if I tagged this as 'Not Team Cap friendly' there isn't characters' bashing in this fic. 
> 
> I want to thank buckyrhodey on Tumblr for this event. Not beta-ed, and, as always, nothing belongs to me. Title from Victorious by Panic!At The Disco.

It was wrong, everything was wrong and went down in the worst way possible. James knew that he saw that, he saw how despite Tony’s hopes there was no way to solve that thing without a breakdown. And now they were both flying, trying to chasing the QuinJet that brought their team in Berlin. 

Rhodes didn’t fool himself, he knew there was so much more than Barnes and what happened in Vienna, in game. He knew to bring together Tony and Steve was the best way for things go south, and he was just surprised that it didn’t happen before. He couldn’t blame his best friend, he knew how he lived in the shadow of Captain America for all his life. Whatever achievement he reached, both personal and academic wasn’t even enough for the abusive father Tony tried to satisfy. He wasn’t Captain America, he would never be him. That was the main problem, from Rhodey's point of view. Tony didn’t understand that it was Howard’s bad. He loved that man, didn’t matter what, and he wanted to find why Howard loved Rogers more than his own son. Steve never understood that either.  
And, anyway, Rhodes had never been too fond of Steve. They were both soldiers, they respect each other, and he was his boss in the Avengers initiative, but Rhodey didn’t particularly like the man. 

They weren’t friends, they were allies. But for Tony, sadly, the terms were synonyms, and Rhodey knew the only other two people who were really Stark’s friends but from him were Bruce and maybe Nat. He wasn’t completely sure about the latter, yet. 

So yeah, stopping Rogers was his best friend's priority but also try to do it possibly without hurting the man, not so much, at least. Which was the reason why both he and Ironman were following the aeroplane instead of waiting that the German Army brought it down. 

“Vision,” He said, the moment he spotted the glimpse of Falcon’s wings with his peripheral vision. The android didn’t answer, but it wasn’t necessary. What was needed was for the man to take care of Wilson before he could attack him.  
It was evident to James that they weren’t going to keep their punches. They weren’t friends, they weren’t even allies by now. 

And then, something happened. The energy, whatever it was, hit Rhodey and everything went blank in the HUB. 

“Shit…” Rhodey whispered, trying to activate the propulsors again. It didn’t work, whatever happened, and that thing was still in his bones, he could feel them shaking despite the armour which shielded him from Vision’s attack. 

The falling was unstoppable, and Rhodey was sure he couldn’t get out of there alive. He heard his best friend’s voice in the comm, and he said something to him, something he didn’t remember while the pressure was overwhelming. His mind went blank a moment before hitting the ground. 

\--

When James woke up, parts of his memories started to flash in front of his eyes. Somehow, he was sure he wasn’t alive, he couldn’t be, and yet, if the beeping coming from the side of his head was telling a completely different story. The beeping from the heartbeat monitors suggested to him that someone moved his inert body in a hospital at some point after he fainted. He closed his eyes, trying to bring back some more sharp memories.

He remembered the fall, he didn’t remember hitting the ground. He didn't remember nothing after the suit becoming completely unresponsive. He was used to that. He was used to the battle, he flew into a hundred and thirty-eight combat missions, and James risked his life in all of them. But all of them were for a good cause, and he was sure the one which brought him fighting at Tony’s side wasn't different. He couldn’t blame his best friend. He wouldn’t. 

“Hey, easy there,” A voice came from his side and Rhodey had a hard time to turn an trying to look at the source of the voice. One Tony Stark stood there on the plastic chair, shades over his eyes and a mobile phone neglected the moment he saw Rhodes was awake. “Good to see you awake.”

Dread followed, in James’s mind, that statement. “How long…?”

“Sixteen hours,” Tony replied, without even having to wait for the end of his question.

“What happened?”

And Tony told him everything, asking for forgiveness which wasn’t necessary in the first place. He nodded, once Stark finished speaking, and waited for his mobile to flash again, signalling another incoming call. “You should take it, I’m not going anyway.”

Tony’s lips curled up in the slightest in a tense smile. And Rhodey waited for him to be out of the room before thinking about what he just said, looking at his useless legs folded under his bedroom sheets.  
He didn’t want Tony to see him break down, he didn’t want him to think it was his fault. He knew it wasn’t, he knew the risks the moment he decided to wear the War Machine suit, and he would have made the same decision over and over again. 

Tony came back a moment later. “Sorry, it was... “ He moved his eyes on Rhodey, and the man could see how his eyes looked exhausted. He wondered what happened after his fall, he wondered what happened to the other Avengers, but he didn’t want to ask, not that, not to Tony himself. Actually, everything was better than thinking about what happened to him. He didn’t feel any type of pain, and he was sure the IV in his arm was the reason why, but what hurt was knowing that he couldn’t trust his own teammates.  
That never happened in the Army. When someone went to war, it was them and their comrades against the world, that was the only way… Of course, people changed their agendas, though he really believed Captain as well didn’t want casualties, not among the ones who were supposed to be their friends. He nodded a moment later to Stark. “I was speaking with some Bruce’s contacts at the Columbia Hospital.”

Rhodey nodded again, grateful to Tony.

\--

Tony’s jet wasn’t as full as it had been during their first travel in Berlin. Natasha was sleeping, Vision and the kid were trying not to think about what happened, and Tony said he needed to meet Ross so they would have probably seen each other once he was back. 

Rhodey didn’t care. He wasn’t in the mood of having any kind of conversation anyway, his dark eyes dreading from all the other people on the aeroplane. He was mildly sure Natasha wasn’t sleeping at all, but he had also been surprised when she didn’t go with Rogers and Barnes. She was the one who let them go, it was clear. And what was worst was that Rhodey couldn’t blame her at all; he would have done the same for Tony. 

His hand wrapped tightly around the armrest at the thought. He knew it wasn’t something right to do. He knew that seeking revenge wasn’t the best way to solve their problems, and he was also sure that someone could have guessed that he wanted to punch Rogers because of what happened, but he couldn’t even blame the Captain for a casualty of a battle, he was a soldier, he was used to it. The fact that this time Rhodey himself was involved changed nothing.

He was angry because of Tony, he was angry because the man still had hope in humanity, because he still believed that people were better than they pretended to. Probably Rhodey was cynical, though he knew better. 

“What are you thinking about?” A voice woke him up from his own thoughts. He was ready to snap to whoever asked that question, but, when he found himself facing Parker’s face, he simply couldn’t. James didn’t know the kid enough, but he saw how he approached the battle. Peter was over-enthusiastic, and he saw his own hero fall in front of him, the exact moment Captain America dropped an airport ramp on him. 

“Nothing, kid, nothing,” He answered, smiling at him and accepting his proposal to play some dumb video game on a StarkPad. He didn’t really pay attention to what was happening on the screen, but the kid was clearly fine enough with that, and it helped Rhodey not to fall into his own dark thoughts. 

The moment the jet landed at the JFK, Happy was there for them. Natasha excused herself and a moment later was at the phone and James as well knew he had some phone calls to make but when he tried to say it loud, Happy straight refuse and closed the car door on his protests. 

\--

The Avengers’ Compound was terribly silent. Rhodey wasn’t used to it, and what was even sadder was the reason why Tony decided to create it after Ultron destroyed the Stark Tower. He wanted a place that could have been home for all of them, but the truth was that for his best friend that was his only home, with his only family, especially since things with Pepper went down. 

Apart from the clinging sound of his wheelchair, the only sounds in the building were the ones from the cleaning bots and from Vision who was moving pans in the kitchen, still not done with the idea of learning how to be more human, or whatever.  
Natasha reached them soon after they left Parker in the Queens, but she left earlier saying that she had to debrief someone whose name Rhodes didn’t care. It wasn’t someone from the army that he had known, and that was enough for him to understand that the Black Widow wouldn't show up anytime soon. 

“Colonel,” Vision said, the moment he entered the kitchen, not having any other place where to go and not feeling like to call anyone for the time being. He could feel his mobile phone burning with missed calls and messages, but he wanted to figure the things out before speaking with someone. “I cooked pasta,” the android said, his voice filled with pride. “Do you want some?”

James was half sure he didn’t want to taste Vision’s pasta, but, again, at least he could keep himself busy for some minutes, so he nodded. 

They were eating in silence whatever Vision cooked, which wasn’t definitely pasta, when Natasha entered the Compound, speaking with Friday while she was barking at whoever was on the other side of her phone. “I just enter the Compound and Stark isn't there. I’ll tell him to call you as soon as he is back but if I won't keep my breath if I were you.” 

“What happened?” James asked the moment the Black Widow let herself fall on the sofa. 

“I hate politicians,” She stated, rising her jade glance on the two men in front of her. “Everyone wants to speak with Tony, and we still don’t have an idea where he is. Or where Steve is either, which would help…”

Nat’s hand ran in her hair and Rhodes couldn’t help to throw her a glance. Somehow, Romanov managed to be released despite what T’Challa said -- probably because she was the best spy in the world and knew something important -- when the German police arrested the others, but she was the reason why Steve ran in the first place. 

“So you let him go without knowing where he was going?” Rhodey couldn’t keep it. He had no idea for how long they were going to ignore what happened, but that wasn’t his way to do things. 

“He said something about a place where other Winter Soldiers were kept, though I have no idea and after that, things went down and --”

“Colonel Rhodes, Agent Romanov, Vision, ”Friday's voice interrupted her before Rhodey could yell against her. He was trying to behave like a reasonable person, but when people were saying things like the ones Natasha was he couldn’t. “I detected Boss’s helicopter. He’s flying over a military base in the middle of the Ocean.”

“The Raft,” James said, receiving a questioning glance from both the other two people in the room. “It’s a secret military prison created to keep under control enhanced human beings. He probably went there to speak with Ross.” 

And that was the worst thing as possible. Tony had no guarantee that he would have walked out of it as a free man. Rhodey knew it was because of him if he would have been able to avoid Vision’s attack they could have stopped Rogers and Barnes. 

“Is it there where Ross is keeping the others?” Natasha asked. 

“I think yes. Fuck! What does he hope for?” He took his mobile and dialled Tony’s number but, as he suspected, he didn’t receive any answer, which was frustrating but nothing new when it came to Tony. “Friday, keep us updated, ok?”

“Copy that, Colonel.”


	2. Chapter II.

It didn’t take long for them to receive news from Tony or, better, from Secretary Ross which, apparently, was looking for Tony. 

“Colonel Rhodes,” Rhodey decided it would have been better to answer and just try not to piss the man off. He wasn’t afraid by the Secretary, he didn't have any kind thought on the man, and more than definitely, he couldn’t give a shit about what he thought about his best friend, but he knew better than if you have to ask something you should at least try to be polite with them. “How can I help you, Mr Secretary?”

“I thought Tony Stark was already back at the Compound, by now, I need to speak with him.” The answer was exactly on the lines of what James had thought. 

“Tony isn’t there, I last saw him in Berlin.” And, before anything else could be said, he shouted the conversation off. Even if Rhodey knew where Tony was, he wouldn’t have said it to the man. Though, the idea of not knowing was looming in the back of his mind: the last news they had from Tony was of him being in the government facility, and Friday delivered them about four hours ago, by now.

He took his head in his hands and started to think about all the possibilities which came to his mind. There wasn’t nothing he could do, truth to be told, though being forced inside the Compound, unable to walk out of it -or to walk, period- was driving Rhodey crazy since the moment Tony told him to go back in New York with the others. And now that call from Secretary Ross was just making everything harder. 

“Friday,” he called, hoping in an help from Tony’s AI, despite him knowing better. Since Tony created Jarvis and any other bot which was able to speak, it was clear that they weren’t going to break any robotic law anytime soon. Including the “being loyal to your creator” one which was terribly annoying, if you aks James, when the said owner did everything in his power to get in huge troubles one day and the other. 

“How can I help you, Colonel?” The bodiless voice replied to him. 

“Can you track where Tony is right now, please?” 

“I am able to do this, sir, though Boss forbade it.” 

Just as Rhodey thought and expected. He would have bet real money on an answer on these lines from the AI. “Can you tell me if he is ok?” 

“Boss is in the best conditions as possible, considering what he went through in the past few years.”

“Yeah,” even Tony’s AI was more self-conscious about Stark’s well-being than the man himself was, which said a lot about how bad those years had been. Not that he took care of his health before, but Rhodey could see the insomnia symptoms on Tony’s face, and he and the genius had been friends for long enough to tell that he was way past the normal dark circles. “Just keep me update.”

“Yes, sir,” Friday answered, before going back to be quiet. Once she did, no sounds could be heard in the building. Rhodey had no idea where the others were, but the Compound was big enough to seem completely empty if people were in the opposite wing of it.   
What bothered James, though, was that it was way too silent. He was a man who was used to live among the others. During all his life he couldn’t remember a time, apart from his childhood, in which he wasn’t surrounded by people. 

The M.I.T., then the Military facility where he trained, then the Army itself, both in the field and behind a desk, then the Avengers and the Army; there was always someone else. Most of the times, that person was Tony, some of them Natasha, others Rogers, but he was almost never alone.   
He didn’t even remember the last time he went into his own apartment which, by now, he kept just because everyone wants a place to call home. He wasn’t scared by loneliness, a person who chose a life in the Army was used to it, though the silence was overwhelming and in the worst way as possible at that moment. 

He started to think about the battle in the airport, and rapidly he found about one millions of reasons to blame himself for how it evolved. He couldn’t really believe how hypocrite Steve had been, he just recalled the conversation they had in the very same room where he was right now. 

He had no idea how long passed, but when he stopped the spiral of his own thoughts, he somehow succeeded in keeping it together. Maybe it was just because he saw worse things, perhaps because he knew the risk he was going to take when he enrolled in the Army, he couldn’t say. Anyways, he was mildly surprised when he found himself facing Nat's worried glance. 

“Hey, hey, Rhodey, are you there?” She asked, her tone had something off, but James couldn’t bring himself to understand what it was. He nodded, he had no idea how his voice could work while his brain was still reliving the events in Berlin. 

“I’m going to take a glass of water for you, ok?” She asked, and without waiting for an answer, Rhodes heard her heels on the floor. He had no idea how long she had been there, but after having taken a couple of sips from the glass, he explained to her what happened after she left shortly before and what he knew from Ross. 

“He probably went looking for Steve,” Nat said, and that was what Rhodey frightened the most. He knew he didn’t have any reason to be afraid for his best friend’s life: Rogers was still one of his teammates, and probably he had had the time to clear his mind. Or at least, James hoped that was the option. He trusted Tony, he would have trust the man with his own life, though he wasn’t sure Tony trusted himself. Rhodey knew Tony tried whatever he could to save his relationship with the other Avengers, and he also knew his best friend was probably blaming himself for the way things went down. 

Not knowing where Tony was was like going back to those terrible months when his best friend was missing in Afghanistan. And the difference was that now there was nothing he could do to save him, or to find him either. 

He remembered how it had been, when the Army mobilized to save him and how it had been for him, because of his role of mediator between the Stark Industries and the US Army, to try not to think that his best friend might have been killed a long time before. Maybe the exact moment his kidnapper understood that he was Tony Stark. 

He remembered every single moment of those days. The press conferences, the conversations he had with every fucking General and Senator who cared nothing about Tony’s well-being if not for the weapons SI produced for them. 

Rhodey wasn’t sure he could live that again. Or, better, he knew he couldn’t.   
He tried to be strong for his best friend, he attempted to be by his side when Tony needed him the most, though he knew that he had a broken point as well, probably further than where he was in that moment, but he had one. It was there, looming over him. 

James tried to focus back on Natasha whose was still speaking to him, trying to figure out where Steve and Barnes were gone. “It’s possible they are looking for the place Bucky said he remembered. It’s what Steve said, back in the airport.” 

He followed her voice, which was bringing him back to the now and then. Rhodey worked better, like that. When he could focus on the present and didn’t think about the past is brain used to make the best plans. But he didn’t remember a thing of what happened in that damned airport in Berlin, nothing before what brought him to fall into the void and clash against the earth. 

“Did he mention any place?” He asked.

“I don’t know,” None of them was so concerned about what Cap was saying, more focused on trying not to die. “He said something about Siberia, but that’s all. I can try to search on the maps.”

“I’ll help you,” Rhodey said, they would likely find nothing on the maps, but it was better than stay there and wait for something which probably wasn’t going to come. “We should probably look for a huge space, somewhere where people can be kept under control without alerting the population around,” Both he and Nat rolled their eyes at the ceiling, then Rhodey continued: “Which means the entire Siberia.”

Natasha recalled a holographic map in the middle of the room and started to type some random coordinations on it until the Siberian silhouette flashed on the screen.   
They were still searching something that could correspond to their description of the place they were looking for when Friday’s voice went on in the Compound. 

“Colonel, Boss’s suit went off-line,” She was panicking, and Rhodey knew he was feeling the same even if he was better in hiding it. 

“Where is he, Friday?” Vision asked, entering the main room. Probably, Friday repeated the alert in all the Compound. 

The point where Tony was lighted up on the map, not as far from where Natasha and James were looking a couple of minutes before. “Friday, send the War Machine suit,” Rhodey ordered, he didn’t know if Tony’s AI could control his suit but it was very likely if permission were given. 

“I’ll go,” Vision said, a moment later. Both Rhodey and Nat turned to look at the android. Maybe it was the best choice, but it wasn’t like the Colonel could think straight at that moment. The only thing that came up in his mind was the idea that if the suit went off-line something happened to his best friend. “Friday, can you alert the ONU to send medical assistance where Stark is?”

“Sure thing, Vision.”

James’s eyes ran on Natasha. The woman seemed collected, but it was clear that her posture was too stiff to fool him. If that woman was able to blame herself, she would have, that was sure. “Do you have some footage from the suit? Just to know what Vision will have to face.”

But the android was already gone, and there was very little which could resist a blast from an Infinity Stone in the first place. Rhodey witnessed in the worst way as possible. The image of the map flinched for an instant, just to be replaced by dark steel doors. Tony stormed inside of them, walking through an empty building which resembled a military one.   
Rogers and Barnes appeared on the screen, and a moment later the video was cut. Probably Tony took off the helmet of the suit, not thinking either of the men was a threat. When the video came back, Cap was pinning him against a wall. 

The video went on for some minutes, then it stopped again and never came back. Friday's voice filled the Compound while the holographic screen dissolved. “The suit went off-line twelve minutes and forty-four seconds after the end of the footage.” 

Nat, at James’s side, was wearing her most unreadable expression, and Rhodey himself couldn’t say how he was reacting to what he just saw. He could hear his own fastened heartbeat in his ears and knew his breathing was unsteady. The idea of Tony being beaten up by two super soldiers was unbearable. Especially when Rhodey knew his best friend grew up in Cap’s shadow, thinking about him as his father’s hero. 

Once, when he was so trashed that he didn’t even matter any longer, Tony confessed to him how meeting the famous Captain America had been a shock to him. He imagined the man to be the greatest mind of both his and Tony’s generation, that, he said to him, was the only reason why his father couldn’t care about his own son's achievement. He would have understood Howard’s behaviour, for that.   
But Rogers was a disappointment, for his childish beliefs. The man had a certain strategy intelligence and could inspire the others, but wasn’t who Tony expected him to be. Why should he live in the shadow of someone like that? What did Steve Rogers do to deserve Howard’s love that Tony didn’t?

Rhodey found himself questioning what Howard would have thought about the video he just saw. He met the man, once, for a short time while he was entering the Starks’ Mansion and Mr and Mrs Stark were going on a trip, and he thought that the man was terrible cold. What he knew after his death, though, was even worse. 

He had no idea how long both Nat and him stayed silent, but when they heard a noise coming from a smaller living room, they rushed there, both holding a gun. Rhodey may even not being able to run, but that didn’t mean that he was ready to be killed without fighting back. Not that Vision, the only other person inside the Compound, was going to kill them, though. 

“Guys,” He said, lifting his hands as to show them he wasn’t harmed. “Tony is at the Metro General, he was in a critical state but, now he’s stable.”

“Steve and Barnes?” Nat asked, lowering her own gun before running a hand in her hair, trying to lift with that gesture the distress in her body, though it was clear enough that it was pointless. 

“There were no tracks from the Captain or the Winter Soldier either.” 

“Did they leave him there, bleeding to death or freezing his ass off?” Rhodey was literally fuming. He couldn’t understand how a person who claimed himself to be Tony’s friend could do something like that. And even if he could, he wouldn’t. Tony always did everything in his power for all the Avengers, and the only thing he received back was being called arrogant by all of them since the Ultron’s disaster. And now that. 

“I wouldn’t say that…” Vision answered him.

“Yeah, but they did!” He started to push the wheelchair toward the Compound exit without even thinking about it. His best friend needed him, that was the only thing Rhodey needed to know. “I’m going to the hospital, do you come?”

“I’ll reach you later,” Nat answered, going back searching for God knows what on one of the StarkPads left around the living room. “I’ll try to track Steve, he should still have a comm with him.”

Rhodey nodded, a part of him knew that probably Natasha should have felt guilty as well as he did for not being able to help Tony even if the woman’s relationship with Stark had always been weird. Not that he cared: she cared about Tony, she cared about all the Avengers in her own way, and that was the reason why she let Cap go, probably. 

He tried not to think which side she would pick once she’d known where Rogers was and approached Happy. The man didn’t even have to ask him where he wanted to go and helped Rhodey to get off of his wheelchair and enter the car.


	3. Chapter III

Being Tony Stark, as James understood a long time before, had its vantages. As in having a private room in the crowdest hospital in New York City and having said room guarded 24/7. Though, not even being Tony Stark could save someone from chest and lungs damages. 

Tony was lying in his bed, eyes opened and a StarkPhone in his hands, probably browsing through his e-mail as if a couple of super soldiers didn’t try to kill him less than twenty-four hours before. 

“You should be resting,” Rhodey said, entering the room and seeing the painful expression crossing Tony’s face when he tried to turn to look at him in the eyes. James shook his head and went closer to the bed, allowing Tony to look at him without causing him more sufferance. 

“So should you, Rhodey,” Tony said, and he never sounded so exhausted even during his ‘who-needs-sleep’ rounds in the lab. “What are you doing there?”

“Try to understand why an android had to save my best friend’s life in fucking Siberia, for instance,” He answered, and despite being almost yelling, he found he wasn’t angry, not toward Tony, at least. “Seriously, bud, what happened?” 

Tony huffed and let his back fall against the mattress, the phone forgotten on the bed table at his side. It was clear that he didn’t want to speak about that, but it was also clear that Rhodey wasn’t going to give up on that. Not that he wanted to make his friend feel uncomfortable, though he knew that Tony had the tendency to bottle up and that wasn’t healthy for him. 

“I trusted Rogers, he stabbed me in the back. I start to see a certain scheme,” His dark eyes were fixed on the ceiling, but James could be sure that Tony was asking how long would have taken for Rhodey to left too. Well, the Colonel didn’t plan to do any time soon. “I… I thought we were friends.”

And for that, Rhodey had nothing to offer. His relationship with Steve was mostly based on reciprocal respect and nothing more. They weren’t friends, they just went along together without much disagreement, but they never spent time together on their own and simply didn’t know each other. He knew the legend, not the man. 

And Tony didn’t need any of those words from him, so Rhodey decided it was better to stay silent and let his best friend speak. It didn’t take long, Tony took a deep breath and continued: “He choose Barnes over me, I mean, I can understand that but… He killed my mom.”

Tony was barely keeping together, by now. Rhodey wanted to ask who killed Maria Stark between Rogers and Barnes, but he had a clue and decided that it was better not to say anything. 

“Tony,” Rhodey let out, trying to understand what he could say to comfort he could give to a man who just told him that someone he believed to be his friend tried to kill him. “I’m so sorry.”

“Not your fault, Rhodey-Bear,” He answered, and a sort of soft smile appeared on Stark’s lips. Rhodes hated every inch of that smile. It was the sad one he served when he knew he had to be strong but was keeping things for himself. 

“I should have been with you,” He said, instead of whatever the Colonel was thinking about. Tony shook his head.

There wasn’t nothing he could say or he could do, not at that moment. He hated himself because he must have been with him, he must have prevented whatever happened in that damn bunker. What he could do, though, was staying there, watching at his almost dead best friend. 

That was the first time after a long time that Tony allowed him to see all his fears, and James found himself wondering if he had been a terrible friend in the last years. Everything was easier, once. And he didn’t even know how to prevent it.   
He hated how everyone Tony thought to be his family ended up like that, with someone who stabbed him in the back and him being completely useless. He saw Tony break down too many times for his own good. And he hated how the man still believe he was able to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. 

“Hey, I’m fine,” Tony said as if he was the one who had to cheer James’s mood up. 

“No, you are not,” Rhodey said, fighting against his will to punch something just out of spite. “And you know what is fucked up? The fact that you think that this is fine. The fact that you think that whatever happened in that bunker is ok. I saw the footage. And it wasn’t even everything. I saw Rogers hitting you with the shield your father…”

Rhodey stopped immediately. Tony started to breathe heavily, and his heartbeat rushed on the monitor. Rhodey lifted his hands as if he was showing him he wasn’t harmed. “Sorry, I’m sorry…”

This time, Stark didn’t try to deny he was upset, and he let Rhodey came closer to his bed only when he calmed down enough. It took a couple of minutes for the other man to start to breathe again, and Rhodey couldn’t help but notice that his breathing was even harder than it always had been. Tony had had problems with his lungs since the Arc Reactor had been implanted in his chest, and the removal helped just slightly. Having a vibranium shield hit on them definitely didn’t help. 

“It’s just…” A small rose on James’s lips while he was looking at his best friend. “Sometimes I feel like you need to be remembered that you are entitled not to feel well.”

It was something that grew with ages, James had known Tony for long enough to be sure when he said that. Pretending everything was fine, pretending nothing could hurt him was another way to shield the others outside, don’t show them his weaknesses. It was awful if you ask the Colonel who saw his friend wearing that very same mask in the worst moments of his life. 

Tony nodded. “I trusted him,” He said, in a whisper, after what could have been hours of silence. “I thought that, if my father was so fond of him it meant that he can be trusted, at least. God, it was like meeting the cool uncle everyone always speaks about at the family gatherers.”

Neither of them could fight a bitter laugh. Maybe that was better than whatever mask made of ice Tony was wearing a moment before. “Well, you don’t need to see him as the cool uncle because you have one, who’s better than Rogers for sure.” 

This time, Tony’s laugh was more sincere. And Rhodey knew he was thinking about the very same person as him. Maybe whatever happened in Tony’s past let him believe that his family members had never cared about him, but since he met him at the M.I.T. James did everything to make Tony feel part of something.   
When they met for the first time, Rhodey though that the fifteen-years-old kid was too young for college, he may be a genius, he may be the famous Howard Stark’s son, but he was just a kid. An arrogant, full of himself, kid. 

It didn’t take long for things to change. Actually, the first break had been enough. Rhodey entered in their shared room while Tony was speaking with someone at the phone. He was trying to convince whoever was on the other side of the line that he would have done better if he didn’t meet his father again. 

James wanted to go out the room and pretend he never heard of said conversation, though at that moment Tony saw him and everything Rhodey could do was trying to understand what was going on at the Starks’. Tony didn’t tell him anything, at first, and even now, too many years after that day, James had no idea how he managed to know the truth. 

Since that moment, at the Rhodes’ had always been a seat for Tony. They never spoke about that, but James hoped that Tony could think about his place as his own if he needed to. Not that Stark couldn’t afford every apartment in the city, but, sometimes, people needed a family, not just empty rooms. He still remembered how happy James’s mother had been the first time the one Anthony Stark showed up for Thanksgiving Day. 

Tony nodded, though Rhodey noticed his heavy eyelids and decided to leave. His friend needed to rest, and they still needed to sort things out back at the Compound, if Natasha was taking care of the Rogue ones, he would have to speak with the politicians.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are rewarded with my undying love. I changed my Tumblr url so now you can find me @ [myrxellabaratheon](http://myrxellabaratheon.tumblr.com/) and on my new marvel sideblog [ironstrange-is-the-endgame](https://ironstrange-is-the-endgame.tumblr.com/)


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